An American writer between Paris and New York discovers different wines... on a shoestring. Stories, tastings, slices of life and glasses of wine.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Hello, Grenache gris!

This is my latest thrill. And it's thrilling*

2008 Domaine de L'Anglore "Sels d'Argent," which I tasted a couple of months ago twice, two days in a row, made my eyes pop.

2008 Clos de l'Origine "Les Quilles Libres," tasted recently, confirmed that I must inquire more into the grape, which is simply unheralded. This wine has such utter acidity, such wiry and unpredictable aromatics, it cannot be from the Côtes Catalanes, yet it is. And it's gorgeous.

Readers (if I have any left, given my desultory posting frequency of late; a lapse I intend to right, right away), please do tell me of grapes I should be drinking more.

And do not correct the "grapes ... drinking" sentence structure: it's a synecdoche, I swear.

I bit on the Garagiste offer for the Naick 8, based solely on this enthusiastic post.

Here's the write-up if you're interested (94 points!):

The last few Naick Blanc’s have been among David Schildknecht's most admired white wines of the world (not just of France) and the 2008 is their most classic achievement yet (due to the cool growing season). Here’s the 2006 review - a wine the 2008 more closely resembles than the bigger 2007. If you enjoy experimentation, Oustal’s Grenache Gris is not only worth your time, it is one of those wines that makes you take pause and reassess what you actually know about all things vinous: “($36); Not all L’Oustal Blanc wines follow the blends permitted or the protocol prescribed for Minervois. A case in point is their remarkable whites, vinified in new and once-used Vosges demi-muids, and built around a rare stand of Grenache Gris, planted in 1948 under the direction of Baron Leroy (of Chateauneuf and A.O.C. fame) for blending with Grenache (the parcel that now informs Fonquerle’s Prima Dona – see below) to make fortified sweet wine. Macabeu plays a bit part in this l’Oustal white. Surely it’s no coincidence that what I unhesitatingly call the most exciting whites in the Languedoc share these two cepages with the most profoundly delicious whites of Roussillon. “Well, after all,” Fonquerle says when I point this out (discounting the Macabeu), “most of the world’s great wines are mono-cepage. The 2006 white Naick 6 is pungently floral and zesty in the nose, like a mingling of oranges with some mysterious orchid. Peach kernel, toasted hickory, and wet stone add a faintly bitter and austere side to the palate, and a saline savor, fresh peach, chalk dust, and citrus make for a piquant, almost endlessly lip-smacking and thought-provoking finish no less remarkable, but far more refined and classically white wine-like than that of the 2007. These l’Oustal whites simply have to be tasted to be believed, and I suspect this will be worth following for at least half a dozen years. Along with Roland Velich’s (Moric) ancient vines Gruner Veltliner – and perhaps not coincidently given their striking similarities in terroir and method – Naick white counts as my greatest white wine revelation of the past couple of years. 94pts”